There was no Ring of Fire like the last time England won here in Mumbai, but the prosaic way they settled the second Test, after MS Dhoni conceded four byes down the leg side, did not begin to explain the tectonic performances that led to Alastair Cook’s side levelling the series with a 10-wicket victory.

Not that England will care how they eventually crossed the line, only that they did. After the nine-wicket drubbing in Ahmedabad this was a victory based on three career-high performances and a bold restating of the team’s self-belief, and no captain can ask for more than that.

In that regard, and given that the general expectation of them prevailing here was low, especially after India made 327 in their first innings, this win was up there with those at Sabina Park in 1989-90, Karachi 2000-01 and the Edgbaston Ashes win in 2005.

Begun by Monty Panesar, with five for 129 in India’s first innings, the match was shaped definitively by an extraordinary 186 from Kevin Pietersen and an impressive 122 from Cook. On a pitch doctored to turn from the first day, their batting in the first innings gave England both the will and the means to win, something that was concluded before lunch on Monday after India had been dismissed for 142 and the 57 runs needed for victory had been safely negotiated.

With the prowess of Pietersen and Cook enabling their team to get enough runs for an 86-run lead, and on a pitch becoming more difficult by the session, Panesar continued his torment of India’s batsmen with a further six wickets to finish with career best figures of 11 for 210. Graeme Swann took the other four to finish with eight for 113 in the match, the first instance in eight occasions that the pair have bowled in tandem and been on the winning side.

It was a rout with only Gautam Gambhir putting up any resistance as Panesar and Swann became the first pair of England spinners to take 19 wickets in a Test since 1958, when Jim Laker and Tony Lock did the same on an uncovered pitch against New Zealand at Headingley. Gambhir was the last man out, lbw to Swann for 65, a poor decision after replays showed the ball had struck his bat first, but one that made up for Pragyan Ojha, who was reprieved after Aleem Dar did not spot a bat-and-pad catch off Panesar.

Faced with one of those modest but awkward totals, Nick Compton set off to get it in a blaze of boundaries, ending with an unbeaten 30 off 28 balls. Whether like his grandfather, Denis, he simply fancied a good lunch at the Taj Palace Hotel, or he felt that Cook had already contributed more than his fair share of runs to the cause, the solid striking, which included a six off Ojha, will have done him good after a sturdy but largely strokeless start to his Test career. Decisive though Compton was, there has been batting on this tricky pitch and then there has been batting, with even Cook’s exceptional century in the first innings forced to defer to Pietersen’s magnum opus, one the man himself described as the best of his 22 Test hundreds. Afterwards, he dedicated his man-of-the match award to the team, which was a bit icky, but it was the only thing that was overstated as he and England enjoyed about as perfect a four days in India as is possible to hope for in cricket.

It is difficult to place Pietersen’s innings in context given the amount the pitch turned and how early in the piece it did so. Graham Gooch scored a brilliant hundred on a similar pitch at the same ground against India in the semi-final of the 1987 World Cup, but he did not have as many close fielders to contend with. It being a 50-over match, he was, however, under pressure to score runs against the clock.

Before Pietersen made his challenge, the best knock I had seen against spinners on a turning pitch was played by Javed Miandad for Glamorgan against Essex in a County Championship match at Colchester in 1981. Chasing 325 to win in the fourth innings, Javed made an unbeaten 200 as Glamorgan fell 13 runs short.

Pietersen’s innings was not quite as dominant as Miandad’s but it was not far off and, as he pointed out himself, it did lead to a famous win.

Despite England’s dominance in just about every aspect of this game, Dhoni was unrepentant about wanting to play on pitches that turn from the start. It could be bluster or he could be pinning his faith in the fact that England’s other nine players here made just 105 runs and that Cook and Pietersen cannot keep batting that well. Whichever it is, everyone awaits the pitch for the third Test in Calcutta a week tomorrow with eager anticipation.

If Dhoni does get his wish for another ‘bunsen burner’, he must be concerned by the way his spinners were outbowled by England’s, though that will not surprise those who feel that Swann and Panesar are superior anyway. Making the pitch spin from the outset certainly played to Panesar’s game plan, which is to plug away with minimal variations. The nagging consistency of his line, length and turn, made him a constant threat and, if anything, he was unlucky not to finish with more than the 11 wickets he ended up with.

India have only once lost a Test series after winning the opening match and that was against England in 1984-85. They have a proud record at home which, since their famous win against Australia in Calcutta 11 years ago, reads 29 wins, 20 draws and seven losses including Monday’s. With two matches remaining, history suggests they will be hard to beat but England did not just win in Mumbai, they crushed their opponents, and by such dominance are trends changed.

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